ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Neuro-Oncology and Neurosurgical Oncology
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1609562
This article is part of the Research TopicImaging to Guide Treatment in Brain TumorsView all 5 articles
Apparent diffusion coefficient predicts MGMT status in adult-type diffuse gliomas and is correlated with Ki-67 proliferation index
Provisionally accepted
- Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, China
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Purpose: To evaluate the predictive value of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) for O6methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) promoter methylation and its correlation with Ki-67 proliferation index in adult-type diffuse glioma, stratified by isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) subtype.Methods: This retrospective study enrolled 94 patients with pathologically confirmed glioma (2017)(2018)(2019)(2020)(2021)(2022)(2023)(2024). ADCmin, ADCmean, and relative ADC (rADC) values were derived from diffusion-weighted imaging (b=1000 s/mm²). MGMT methylation, IDH mutation, and Ki-67 index were assessed by Pyrosequencing and immunohistochemistry. Receiver operating curve analysis was performed to evaluate diagnostic performance, and Spearman correlation was used to link ADC with Ki-67 index.Results: MGMT-methylated gliomas exhibited significantly higher ADCmin (0.86 vs. 0.74 × 10⁻³mm²/s, p=0.013) and rADCmin (1.12 vs. 0.95, p<0.001). In the IDH-wild-type subgroup, rADCmin achieved an AUC of 0.78 (cutoff=1.10, sensitivity=80.0%). All ADC parameters were negatively correlated with Ki-67 (ρ=-0.32 to -0.24, p<0.05).ADC values, particularly rADCmin, were identified as non-invasive biomarkers for MGMT methylation prediction in IDH-wild-type gliomas. An inverse correlation between ADC and Ki-67 index supported their utility for assessing tumor proliferation. Standardizing rADC would improve its clinical applicability across imaging platforms.
Keywords: Apparent diffusion coefficient, MGMT promoter methylation, IDH mutation, Ki-67, Glioma
Received: 10 Apr 2025; Accepted: 18 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 zhu, zhuo, wang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jianing Wang, Affiliated Hospital of Hebei University, Baoding, China
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